The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recovered public land in Nyali, Mombasa County, valued at KSh51 million after a registered owner agreed to surrender the property to the public.
The property, identified as MN/I/2411, measures 0.514 acres and belongs to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). The land is located in Nyali and had been at the centre of a long-running legal dispute over its ownership and allocation.
The recovery was completed through an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) settlement reached on September 21, 2026. Under the agreement, Omar Tahir, who was the registered owner of the property, agreed to surrender the land to the public.
The settlement brought an end to court proceedings that had taken 17 years. The dispute was first taken to court in 2009 after the EACC filed ELC Case No. 177 of 2009 at the Mombasa Environment and Land Court.
The case, filed as Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission v. Zakayo Kipkemboi Cheruiyot, Omar Tahir and Sammy Mwaita, focused on the circumstances under which the public property was allocated and later transferred.
According to investigations by the Commission, the land was illegally and irregularly allocated in 2000 by the then Commissioner of Lands, Sammy Mwaita, to former Kuresoi Constituency Member of Parliament Zakayo Kipkemboi Cheruiyot.
Cheruiyot later transferred the property to Omar Tahir, who remained the registered owner before the ADR settlement led to its surrender.
The EACC said the recovery means the property has now been reverted to the public for the purpose for which it was originally intended. The Commission welcomed the settlement after years of legal proceedings, noting that the resolution had finally enabled the public to regain the property.
The recovery adds to efforts by the anti-corruption agency to reclaim public assets that it says were acquired through illegal or irregular processes. Such cases have often involved lengthy legal battles, with the recovery process sometimes taking several years before an agreement or court decision is reached.
In this case, the ADR process provided an alternative to continuing with the protracted court proceedings.
The agreement allowed the registered owner to surrender the property and brought the long-running dispute to an end without having to continue with further litigation.
The Commission has continued to call on individuals holding public property that was illegally or irregularly acquired to voluntarily surrender such assets. According to the EACC, doing so can help restore public property while reducing the time and costs associated with lengthy court cases.
The recovered Nyali property, which is valued at KSh51 million, will now return to public ownership under KCAA. The Commission said the settlement demonstrates that disputes involving public assets can be resolved through lawful processes where parties are willing to reach an agreement.
The recovery also brings closure to a case that had remained before the courts for nearly two decades. With the surrender of the 0.514-acre property, the land has now been returned to the public for the intended purpose.
